Press Release

05/18/2007 3:45 PM ET

In the spirit of Interleague Play Giants Matt Morris and Randy Winn join As Eric Chavez and Huston Street in honoring members of Bay Area Action Teams for their efforts to encourage youth volunteerism

MLBPA Press Release

OAKLAND -- Prior to tonights game, Giants players Matt Morris and Randy Winn will join As players Eric Chavez and Huston Street in presenting certificates of achievement to local high school students who are members of Bay Area Action Teams. Administered by Volunteers of America and the Major League Baseball Players Trust, the Action Team program was created to encourage young people throughout the United States to volunteer in their communities. To date, Action Teams across the country have inspired more than 9,000 high school students to help more than 38,000 people in need by volunteering in their communities.

Action Teams, consisting of Major League baseball players such as Chavez, Morris, Street, Winn and Mark Kotsay and area high school student Team Captains, are working together in Boston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, Portland (Maine), San Francisco and Seattle. Volunteers of America and the Major League Baseball Players Trust are planning to expand the Action Team program to Cincinnati, Houston, Indianapolis and Mobile during the 2007-08 school-year.

An Action Team-related, school-based curriculum developed in partnership with The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition carries the message of volunteerism and teaches valuable community service skills to 700,000 high school students in more than 5,000 classrooms across the United States.

Being honored tonight are 2006-07 Oakland Action Team Captains from Miramonte and Mt. Eden high schools, Roland Fernandez, Yen Fung, Ken Gilbert, Blair Herman, Matt Randelman and Leah Villanueva and San Francisco Action Team Captains from Mission High School, Michole Forks, Jonathan Lopez and Martha Roldan. Together, these Action Team captains inspired hundreds of their peers from the Bay Area to get involved helping people in need. Among their many volunteer activities this past school year, the Action Teams delivered over 2,500 baskets of food to Bay Area low-income and elderly residents.

The Major League Baseball Players Trust partnered with Volunteers of America in 2002 to promote the nurturing and well-being of Americas children and their families. The partnership features the personal involvement of Major League baseball players and their families with a variety of programs conducted by Volunteers of America throughout the United States. Also, together they administer the Action Team, a national youth volunteer initiative currently inspiring the next generation of volunteers in Boston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, Portland (ME), San Francisco and Seattle.